1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to yard hydrants and more particularly to a valve for a hydrant structure which utilizes a movable spout head in place of a separate traditional type operating handle for opening and closing the flow of water through the hydrant head.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Hydrants have long been used in connection with water systems and much of the basic hydrant art appears to lie in the late 1800's and early 1900's. In such early art and even in later improvements it would appear that the hydrant device includes basically a fixed hydrant head for release of water with some suitable valve structure regulating the flow of water to the head and an appropriate operating handle for controlling the movement of the valve components. Such handle means frequently used a swingable type handle or a rotatable knob and various structures to control the volume of flow control though the valve and hydrant.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,523,549 to Noel Anderson shows a hydrant of the general type used in this invention using a reciprocating valve that is shut off when it is raised and turned on when it is lowered, water pressure biasing the valve to a closed position so that it will not continue to run if someone forgets to turn it off. U.S. Pat. No. 3,672,392 to Noel Anderson is similar to the '549 patent except that it primarily uses a different structure to move the hydrant head up to the closed position or down to the open position. U.S. Pat. No. 6,178,988 to Royle is similar to the two Anderson patents in that the hydrant head is moved up or down to control the flow but it uses a spool valve instead of the type of valve used in the Anderson patents and in Royle, when the hydrant head is up there is flow through the hydrant head and when the hydrant head is down the valve is shut off to high pressure but allowing the hydrant to drain to a level below the frost line to prevent freezing. All three of these aforementioned prior art devices use valves that reciprocate in a bore that is of a uniform diameter everywhere that the valve body moves therein to allow of the respective valve body to seal against the inside walls of the bore in the valve housing, thereby limiting the amount of flow through the respective valves at times when more flow is desired.